EU

Having considered the matter carefully, the Bar Council has taken the decision, in the interests of its members and of transparency, to register on the voluntary register of interest representatives of the European Commission. Its registration should cover the activities of members of the Bar attending events etc in Brussels on the Bar Council’s behalf. See: http://ec.europa.eu/transparency/index_en.htm 

By the time you read this, the European Parliament should have adopted further resolutions in support of the Commission’s “Think Small first” campaign to simplify the operating environment for SMEs, including the proposal creating the European Private Company statute; and an own-initiative recommendation requesting the Commission to issue a proposal to simplify the process of transferring a company seat 

• Council framework decision on the organisation and content of the exchange of information extracted from criminal records between Member States; and  
• Council Framework Decision on “in absentia judgments”, amending 5 existing decisions, including the EAW so as to enhance procedural rights. 

The new EU regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and cooperation in matters relating to maintenance obligations ( Regulation (EC) No. 4/2009) was published in the Official Journal (L7/2009) and entered into force in January 2009. The UK government has formally applied to opt-in.
See: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:007:0001:0079:EN:PDF 

The Commission should have adopted its much anticipated proposal on jurisdiction and applicable law, etc, in this complex field, by the time of reading. If so, the UK has 3 months to decide whether to opt in to the proposal. The Chancery Bar will comment. 

The JHA Council has recently adopted the Council decision (proposed last September) on the signing on behalf of the EC of this 2005 Convention, ensuring that choice-of-court agreements included in international trading contracts entered into by EU companies are respected; and judgments issued by the courts designated in such agreements, are eligible for recognition in the other States party to the Convention. 

On 19/20 February the Annual Conference of European bar leader takes place again in Vienna. The substantive discussions will this year focus on the theme of “Collective Redress” which is where the European Commission is actively considering a major initiative to improve access to justice for consumers. The Bar Council will be represented by its Chairman and Vice-Chairman. 

The International Committee is pleased to announce that its member with responsibility for the CIS region, Rupert d’Cruz, has been appointed Chairman of the Eastern Europe Committee (PECO Committee) of the CCBE (Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe). Ruper t has under taken many initiatives for this Committee, and most recently co-chaired a high-profile conference in Kiev, which brought government, legislature and profession together to consider the establishment of an independent bar council. 

The International Committee member with responsibility for the Middle East, Mark Hoyle, has been appointed Professor for Islamic Law at Leeds University. Mark Hoyle is one of the leading exper ts on Middle Eastern legal systems at the Bar and the Committee is pleased that his work has been recognised in this way. 

The International Committee has worked with the “Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature (ENM)” to place twenty of its trainee judges with English and Welsh chambers specialising in criminal and family law for five weeks over February and March. The intention is that the trainee judges (auditeurs de justice) will gain an understanding of legal practice in England and Wales; in par ticular publicly funded work. 

To give the judges a warm introduction to London and the Bar Council, the International Committee organised a welcome event to coincide with their first day in chambers. Presentations were given on the Bar Council (James Dingemans QC), the comparison of the position of the victim in both the French and English legal systems (His Honour Judge Brooke QC), Opening up the family cour ts and forced marriage (Mrs Justice Parker) and Contemporary issues in criminal law (His Honour Judge Kramer). The group then attended the Dame Ann Ebswor th Memorial Lecture, followed by a small reception to meet the tutors, hosted by Desmond Browne QC. The International Committee were pleased to hear more about the judges’ training programme from Jean-François Thony, Director of the ENM. 

In December, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling on the Commission to issue a proposal on the recognition of authentic acts as defined in the ECJ case law. The legal profession was lobbying for something wider in scope, offering the same status to documents of equivalent legal effect under their national laws. The Commission will issue a Green Paper before the end of 2009, and has indicted that that consultation would cover “authentic acts and possibly other instruments”.